Tag: cnn

The soaring popularity of a discounted, right-wing conspiracy theory that claims last week’s Florida school shooting was an FBI plot was underscored Wednesday when YouTube’s top trending video featured a segment on the baseless allegations.

The video, originally posted in August, claimed that David Hogg, a survivor of the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., was an “actor,” not a classmate.

In the video, the 17-year-old was featured in an interview with the CBS affiliate in Los Angeles to discuss a dispute between a lifeguard and a swimmer.

The video, which received more than 200,000 views in about 12 hours, was copied and re-uploaded by a YouTube user named “mike m,” who wrote new caption: “DAVID HOGG THE ACTOR …”

Since the massacre that killed 17 people, the conspiracy theory has gained traction among Trump supporters and others on the far right who believe – or want you to believe – that the shooting was an FBI plot to seize power from Americans.

The video was removed by YouTube for violating its policy on bullying and harassment.

On CNN on Tuesday, Hogg disputed the outrageous claims.

“I’m not a crisis actor,” Hogg told CNN’s Anderson Cooper on “AC360” Tuesday. “I’m someone who had to witness this and live through this and I continue to be having to do that.”

Philip Mudd, a former FBI agent and deputy director for the FBI’s national security branch, has interviewed terrorists and investigated some of the most atrocious attacks.

That experience didn’t prepare him for news Wednesday that 17 people were killed by a gunman at a Florida high school.

A CNN counterterrorism analyst, Mudd broke down in tears while talking about the attack with the network’s Wolf Blitzer.

“I have 10 nieces and nephews who are talking about bump stocks,” he said. “We’re talking about legislation. A child of God is dead. Cannot we acknowledge in this country that we can’t — we cannot accept this.”

A suburban Detroit man was arrested on felony charges after police say he threatened to carry out a mass shooting at CNN headquarters over what he considered fake news, echoing President Trump’s relentless attacks on the network and other media outlets.

Brandon Griesemer, of Novi, was arrested last week after federal authorities said he made 22 calls to the news network, including one in which he complained about “fake news” and pledged, “Fake news. I’m coming to gun you all down.”

He reportedly added, “I’m smarter than you, More powerful than you. I have more guns than you. More manpower. Your cast is about to get gunned down in a matter of hours.”

During some of the calls, Griesemer made disparaging comments about African American and the network.

Griesemer was charged Friday in U.S. District Court with a felony county of transmitting interstate communications with the intent to extort and threat to injure. Griesemer is free from jail after posting a $10,000 bond.

“We take any threats to CNN employees or workplaces, around the world, extremely seriously. This one is no exception. We have been in touch with local and federal law enforcement throughout, and have taken all necessary measures to ensure the safety of our people,” CNN said Monday in a statement.

The Secret Service has tried to contact Donald Trump’s campaign after his suggestion that “Second Amendment people” could stop Hillary Clinton from making Supreme Court picks if she’s elected, according to a CNN report.

But Trump maintains no one tried to contact him and said the CNN report was “a made up story” for ratings.

The Secret Service said the information did not come from the public affairs office, but could not confirm whether someone else in the agency made the statement.

“Those statements did not come from our public affairs office,” said Joseph Casey, a spokesperson for the Secret Service.

This is what Trump said that caused concerns that he was promoting violence against a presidential candidate: “If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don’t know.”

America’s immigration debate has become red hot because President Obama’s critics not only believe that he lacks the authority to act without the consent of Congress, but also that he must not change internal enforcement priorities before first “securing the border.”

The truth is, the single most important thing Congress can do to meaningfully improve our border security is pass comprehensive immigration reform.

Too often, border security is viewed as preventing the illegal entry of people and goods across state lines. However, border security also is about ensuring the safe, efficient flow of commerce and increasing international trade. Comprehensive reform will do both, while our current approach serves neither objective.

I say this as someone who has made countless trips to the U.S.-Mexico border. I’ve seen firsthand how our current approach to policing the border is based on muddled objectives and unmeasurable benchmarks that mask failure.

Our failure to secure the border is not for a lack of trying. Congress has passed at least four laws since 1986 authorizing increases in Border Patrol personnel. In 1980, there were 2,268 Border Patrol agents at the southwest border; under President Obama, that number grew to an all-time high of 21,730. There was 14 miles of fencing on the border in 1990; under this administration, we’ve erected nearly 651 miles of new fencing and dramatically increased our mobile surveillance capabilities.

Yet there is scant evidence that we can spend our way out of this problem.

“We have to be vigilant against an independent actor here in the homeland who might choose to strike at any moment,” Johnson told CNN’s Barbara Starr in an interview at the Reagan National Defense Forum Sunday.

“Core al-Qaeda was a relatively traditional command and control structure where someone would be recruited, they train at an overseas camp and then they’d be sent to commit a terrorist attack,” Johnson said.

“The new phenomenon that I see that I’m very concerned about,” Johnson continued, “is somebody who has never met another member of that terrorist organization, never trained at one of the camps, who is simply inspired by the social media — the literature, the propaganda, the message — to commit an act of violence in this country.”

To effectively crack down on the lone wolfs, Johnson said local and star law enforcement have to be involved.

“I’ve made this a personal part of my agenda” he said, “by traveling to a lot of community-based organizations around the country, many of them Islamic based, and the dialogue is interesting.”